Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a measuring apparatus for measuring an electrical characteristic of a measurement object.
Background Art
When a large current or a high voltage is applied to a measurement object for the purpose of measuring an electrical characteristic of the measurement object, there is a possibility of occurrence of electric discharge, for example, between a probe and the measurement object. The measurement object on which electric discharge has occurred during measurement is thought to have suffered certain damage. There is, therefore, a need to detect electric discharge with reliability. In a case where electric discharge is overlooked and the measurement object on which electric discharge has occurred outflows as a good article into a post-process, it is difficult to extract the measurement object in the post-process.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-130925 discloses a method of detecting electric discharge. In this electric discharge detection method, electric discharge that occurs in a semiconductor element module is determined from a discharge pulse current and sound detected with an acoustic emission sensor.
It is difficult to apply the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-130925 to measurement on a certain measurement object such as a wafer or a chip because of the detection through sound in the module. The technique also has a problem that it requires a certain degree of silence.